Sakura Trees
by Mai Komagata
Summary: AU - Subaru is a underage gamble, Seishirou is an assassin that relies on a weird fortune teller


Sakura Trees  
  
Mai Komagata  
  
Amidst the cherry blossoms, there is a young boy, no more than sixteen in age, it seems. I told them, no children. From the description, they did not seem to know he was but sixteen, though. Subaru Sumeragi, wide green eyes, raven black hair. Sleeping under the Sakura tree. A very unlikely murder candidate, nobody who risks death is this careless. At least, I never am.  
  
"Subaru Sumeragi?"  
  
"That is me, sir." he says, not really raising his head to acknowledge me, not really raising his voice.  
  
"I was told I had to kill you today, Subaru-kun."  
  
"You would not kill me."  
  
"Excuse me?" I draw out my gun, point it at his head. His grin widens, and he exhales, almost a laugh.  
  
"I'd rather be murdered by a nice stabbing, must I die."  
  
"You are careless about your own death."  
  
"Luck is on my side, it is always on my side." I put away my gun, because I wasn't planning on killing this brat anyway. I wonder why I have been asked to kill him. A large sum of money involved with this one, too.  
  
"Do I have the honor of meeting my assassin?"  
  
"Seishirou."  
  
"Nice to meet you Sei-chan!" I growl at his rudeness at referring to me. His lips smile at me so sweetly, his snigger so innocent, yet so not. "I'm joking, man, but seriously, look." He takes a pair of dice, clear yellow stone, and rolls them on the floor, a seven. "See, luck is always on my side." I turn to leave, mission unaccomplished, leaving this silly child to his own. My employer should not ask me, a professional, to kill a little rude boy. "See you later, Sei-chan!" I hear him blowing me a kiss, intentionally derisive, but I know I will have to see him again.  
  
***************************************  
  
The surroundings are very dark, misty. Even after all the times I have been here I feel uncomfortable being surrounded by mismatching greens and violets, golden trinkets, magic boxes. It is still early, but she is waiting for me as she always does, on her chair, looking at the outspread cards, mostly black, as always.  
  
"What do you think about him, Millicent? What do the cards reveal?"  
  
It is 6:00 am, and as always, I'm on my "date" with Millicent. No romantic involvement, just trust; I trust her to tell me everything. Killing for pay is a high-risk profession, and a little superstition never hurt anyone for being overcautious.  
  
"Subaru-kun? Oh, I see, that is why yesterday I said he wouldn't be murdered." She giggles sweetly at me. I glare at her. It annoys me to be laughed at. She stifles her coy giggles with her long fingers, and gives me a shy wink. "Wasn't laughing at you, Seishirou-san! I would not dare." A deliberately mocking tone, I note.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"He is a good boy, I think. Only today's fortune?" She always asks this, even though I have been coming here for a couple of years now. Yes, only the day's fortune; I don't want to know too far ahead. So far, she has never been wrong. What's more, she is never shocked at me. Even when she met me for the first time, there was no fear in her brazen eyes; she never hesitated to receive bloodstained bills.  
  
"Only today, same as always."  
  
"Look! You will meet Subaru-kun under the Sakura trees, just like yesterday." Those shy little giggles again. As if we were both teenage girls talking about some crush, never mind that she is twenty and I am twenty-five; her, so magical, me, so devoid of emotion.  
  
"Don't talk as if I were in love with him. He is but a boy."  
  
"A boy you would not kill last night."  
  
"I do not kill innocent children, Millicent, you know that."  
  
"Subaru Sumeragi is neither innocent, nor a little child. He is sixteen after all."  
  
"Millicent, just tell me what I want to know." I grow impatient. I light my cigarette, a spark of red in the haze of the incense. I prefer the scent of tobacco to this vanilla incense.  
  
"You do that just to annoy me, right Seishirou? Turn that cigarette off, it ruins my concentration." I blow smoke in her face, just to annoy her. She shakes her face away, making the tiny bells jingle on her outfit. "Fine. Take a gun, take a knife, and be fast. The mission takes place in a bad area of town, and you don't want to leave evidence behind." She sulks a little. I know she wants to chat more about Subaru-kun, not talk to me about some random man I will kill tonight. I'm not here to find out only about the mysterious boy, I'm here to make sure I won't die today.  
  
***************************************  
  
Once more, the cherry blossoms are abloom in the streets. It has been a year, yet I still find Subaru-chan waiting for me every day outside as I leave Millicent's home. "Must you visit her every day? Have you no faith in chance?"  
  
"I'm not surprised a gambler would not understand the meaning of leaving nothing to chance. I can never be too careful." I look into his eyes, hold his hand. That is what couples do, right? For no particular reason, it seems to me, but nevertheless, it still means something to him.  
  
"Fate controls only those who let it control them. Let's go to the café. I want a drink, Seishirou." I follow and sit across from him at a glass table, outside. He orders vodka; I order only water.  
  
"Subaru-kun, you cannot drink, you are not of age. It is illegal," I laugh at him.  
  
"You are the last person I expect to lecture me about what is 'legal'. Besides, I have better luck when drunk." He rolls out his amber dice from his pocket, the clinking of the stone against the crystal, a seven. "See?"  
  
"You just don't remember your losses as much when drunk. Besides, that is illegal too, you are seventeen."  
  
"Oh, shut up, Seishirou. I know what I am doing. I need the money." Those green eyes of his glare at me, I'm surprised he can be so young. His glare soon reverts to a sweet smile, which I return to him.  
  
"You are still a kid. Don't make me have to kill you one day."  
  
"You already were sent to kill me once. But you didn't, right? And they stopped threatening me. They wouldn't send you twice to kill me. The odds are against it."  
  
"They are?"  
  
"Sure, why not?" I light up my cigarette, showing him my vices. "See, that can kill you."  
  
"Shut up Sumeragi-kun."  
  
His emerald eyes stop shining for a brief second, and he becomes serious for once. "You would not kill me, right, Seishirou-san? You do love me, right?"  
  
"It is hard to feel when one is so surrounded by death and strong emotions. I guess, I started killing to rid myself of those feelings. But I don't seem to recall so far back nowadays. I have told you this before Subaru- chan."  
  
"You would not kill me, right?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Then, why do you bother following around a little brat like me, anyway?" He smiles, but his tone is no lighter. I wonder what he feels.  
  
"You kiss well Subaru-kun, you know that." He smiles, so sweet. I wonder how they let him in to the casinos anyway.  
  
"Well, as long as you don't love Millicent."  
  
"You are jealous of her? Think I would fall in love with her before I fall in love with you?" I laugh, and am rewarded with his laugh too.  
  
"Bastard, hell, no. But. I would love to know your future Seishirou-san, that is for sure."  
  
***************************************  
  
"Millicent, tell me Millicent." One more year, I always wondered how long Sumeragi-kun's luck would last. I received the notice yesterday. The room looks especially dark today, the air, especially heavy, the vanilla has more stench than usual.  
  
"Don't even bother sitting down, Seishirou, because I will not tell you anything." She is inordinately serious, Millicent would scare me if she weren't so frail.  
  
"Don't play with me, Millicent, I need to know." The note said yesterday: This time, you will kill Subaru Sumeragi, he owes our client significant sums of money. If you don't, someone else will. I disposed of the note last night, burned it with my cigarette.  
  
"I will not tell you anything, I said! Leave!" She turns her back toward me, and shivers ever so slightly. I reach out with one hand toward her shoulder, and one hand toward her neck, and squeeze her ever so slightly, and turn her around.  
  
"You will tell me my fate. I have to know Millicent!"  
  
"I thought you were devoid of feeling, Seishirou-san," she is deliberately mocking in her tone.  
  
"I am. But I care more for him than I do for you. I don't need a fortuneteller that does not tell fortunes."  
  
"Kill me then. I am destined to die today. I know everything. But I know something about you too Seishirou-san.Just make sure you tell him that you lo-" I squeeze my right hand, slowly, until I hear her gasp a few times, in a sound so similar to my ears as her giggles two years ago. She closes her eyes slowly, chokes out, " Just tell him. before it's too late..." She is silent, and she drops slowly to the ground, like a feather, or a dirty rag.  
  
I step carefully away from the room, the scent of vanilla slowly being eclipsed, by another, subtler smell of blood.  
  
***************************************  
  
He is there, by the Sakura trees, as always. He acknowledges my presence with a slight turn of head; he is silent. I raise my hand slowly, pointing a gun at his head, because I know I must kill him now before someone else comes to do it. He does not look away from me; his eyes never flicker. He is not a boy any longer, I have no excuse to let him live any more. The cherry trees drop their blooms softly, covering him with a light sheen of rose-colored petals.  
  
"I have to kill you, you know, Subaru-kun. I have no choice."  
  
His head faces the ground, and he rustles his coat with his hands and finds his pair of amber dice, a seven, once more. "I am not always this lucky, it seems. I never could win your soul away."  
  
I put my gun away, recalling what he told me long ago. I draw my knife that I keep hidden in my boots, and I walk behind him to hug him. I hear the sound of drops of water falling on the ground below, green eyes crying. "I warned you not to do this, Subaru-kun."  
  
"I know. At least, you'll kill me knowing that I loved you, and I will die knowing I had a decent stabbing." He chuckles, this time, I know it pains him to do so.  
  
"Be serious Subaru."  
  
"I am very serious Sei-chan."  
  
"I still don't love you Subaru."  
  
"Is Millicent dead? At least, I know you got rid of her before me."  
  
His blood runs down my fingers, I don't even hear him cry out. His body is lighter than Millicent now that his life has left him, and there is peace in his tear-stained face, even knowing that I could not love him. His blood tastes sweet on my hands, and I wonder briefly if I too have a heart with blood like his. That I can love like he did. The dagger seems like a nice tool with which to find out. The Sakura blooms are crimson today, the air carries a metallic tinge and the skies darken above me. 


End file.
